Wounded Man Held After Deputy Fires at Intruder

A suspected cat burglar who attempted to rob the home of a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy was shot in the leg Tuesday night by the off-duty officer and was later arrested after claiming to have been the victim of a drive-by shooting, according to police.

Juan Ramirez-Rendon, 20, of Costa Mesa was arrested on suspicion of robbery and was being treated in a custody ward at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, Police Lt. Ron Smith said Wednesday.

The off-duty deputy reported seeing a burglar peeking into a second-story bedroom window of his Summerset Circle home at 9:30 Tuesday night. The deputy said he went to get his gun while his wife called 911.

When he returned to the bedroom, the deputy told police, he saw the burglar approaching his baby daughter’s room from the outside of the house.

The deputy fired several shots through an open window, hitting the man in the lower leg, Smith said. The man jumped off the first-story roof and fled on a bicycle toward Wimbledon Park, Smith said.

At 10:30, someone called Costa Mesa police, saying a relative had been shot in the leg while playing basketball in a park. The wounded man told police and paramedics he had been injured in a drive-by shooting at the park.

“The story seemed a little suspicious, so they brought down the off-duty deputy,” said Smith.

The deputy identified Ramirez-Rendon as the man who had been at his home.